Mixed Media

Special event marketing and communications should be considered early in the planning process. Even the month and day picked can help secure better media coverage.

In this fast-paced 'information age" your story is competing with a great many others. To cut through the clutter, your event promotions requires multiple, memorable impressions saturated within a short time frame.

Special events at park districts and forest preserves are most often associated with summertime fun, but you can conduct successful winter events with good planning and promotion. Whether your event focuses on ice skating for all age groups, or targets specific demographics such as estate planning for senior citizens or after-school activities for children, you can increase attendance, generate media coverage and enhance your park districts reputation with a coordinated campaign.

Usually in event planning, marketing and communication are the last steps in the process. But, at that point it may be too late for maximum effectiveness. At the time the date is scheduled, you need to think about all of the possible promotional opportunities. Even the date picked has potential marketing power.

How can you get multiple impressions that add up to recognition and action? The secret to successful promotion is the right marketing mix.

If your goal is to generate media coverage for your event, think in terms of the media's needs and what qualifies as "news." Consider the following tips:

• You will be more successful if you schedule the event on a Sunday or Monday. These two days are traditionally slow news days for the media, thus reporters and photographers are more likely to have time to cover your event.

• Plan the event to include plenty of interesting video and photo opportunities, with lots of color and movement to capture the photographer's attention. Media consultants recommend news stories with cute kids and animals—audiences love them!

• Timing is everything! If you seek a newspaper feature story to increase attendance of your event, write a pitch letter about your story idea and send it to the feature editor three to four weeks prior to the date you want it to appear in the newspaper.

• Write your news release and mail or fax it to all the news media in your area seven to ten days prior to your event. Be sure it has an interesting lead and headline to attract the attention of editors and news directors.

• Send a photo opportunity release to photo directors. Describe the possible colors, action, "babies and beasts" that will be part of the photo opportunity at your event. Suggest a possible "warm-fuzzy" front-page photo.

• If your story is presented as the same ol' event that happens every year, it will not be covered. If the event is an annual one, give it a new slant.

• Don't rely solely on the pitch letter or news release. Follow-up with telephone calls to the media contact. Make sure that you have new information to share about your event. Calling to say "Did you get my release?" may hurt more than help your efforts to get coverage. Offer reasons why their audiences would be interested your story.

• Fax a reminder the day before or at 7:00 a.m. the day of your event to help ensure that it will be included in the news assignment schedule.

• Send information about your event to the "Community Calendars" of all newspapers and radio, television and cable-TV stations. Don't forget the tourist and visitor's center and chamber of commerce office for their calendar of events.

• Schedule a spokesperson on radio and television talk shows or interview programs.

• In conjunction with a local radio station, develop a contest with "giveaways" (event tickets, food coupons, raffle prizes) for the first few callers or the first person who calls with the correct answer to a trivia question about your event.

• Perhaps you can arrange to produce a program about your event on the local community access or municipal cable-TV channel.

• Newspapers that target specific demographics such as the "Senior News" might be interested in an article about activities for senior citizens at your event.

• For the technically advanced public, create an interesting web page on your agency's or your city's home page with information about the event.

• Create graphically interesting brochures and fliers with attention-grabbing headlines, appropriate for your target audience. Present the information in a clear, concise, easy-to-read format, with photos if possible. Offer the reader a benefit.

• It takes more than just producing a good brochure. Also identify all the possible avenues for distribution to reach your targeted audiences. Arrange to have printed information displayed or available at all of your district's facilities, at churches, schools, grocery stores, hospitals, other municipal buildings recreation centers operated by organizations with which you have a good working relationship.

In this fast-paced "information age" your story is competing with a great many others. To cut through the clutter, your event promotions requires multiple, memorable impressions saturated within a short time frame. If you do that well, your event will be a success.

RUTH SLOTTAG. APR
is the public relations director of the Illinois Association of Park Districts and serves as president of the Central Illinois Chapter of Public Relations Society of America.

Promotion Tips for Special Events

Special event marketing and communications should be considered early in the planning process. Even the month and day picked can help secure better media coverage.